Others News
- Freshmen rush to dorms as university life begins
Date: 19-Sep-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
BEIJING, Sept. 10 -- Tens of thousands of freshmen flocked from all over the country to start their ivory-tower lives at local universities at the weekend in Shanghai.
And universities are moving with the times to help their students - Shanghai Normal University pioneered an online registration system in a pilot program to free students from lugging their bags to various check-ins and appointments.
By registering with their bank account on the Website, students were given information such as their dorm number, location map, class arrangements and tips about living on campus.
'That saved students a lot of trouble in queuing up. They only need to have their identity verified at the dorm building computer system before settling straight down in the dorm,' said Xie Yueheng, a university official.
Chu Xiangkai, a freshman at the university's school of biology and environment, said the online registration system also freed him of anxiety in the strange new environment as he 'knows clearly beforehand about what to do next.'
At East China University of Science and Technology, school authorities launched a new policy to subsidize travel expenses for needy students, especially those from flood-stricken areas.
Each student, depending on the distance to their hometown, was given between 200 yuan (26 U.S.dollars) and 400 yuan, school officials said.
For instance, Wang Yufeng, a student from Anhui Province, saw her home and family farm flooded by heavy rain this July, devastating her hopes for being able to finance university studies.
'Both my parents and I were worried about my tuition fees, but it's very fortunate for me to get early care from the university,' Wang said at the registration site on Saturday.
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